It is common to use grain augers and the like to transfer grain or other particulate material from a source area to a target area, for example from a transport container to a bin or other storage type container. Transport containers generally involve a container supported for rolling movement along the ground by wheels spaced apart at opposing ends of the container. A hopper type discharge is then typically located between the wheels below the container for discharging into the auger which subsequently conveys the material to the storage container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,715 to Feterl; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,305,866 and 5,788,055 both to Stewart et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,066 to Boppart; U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,775 to Plett; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,889 to Heley; and European Patent Application 0 684 198 disclose various examples of grain augers used for conveying particulate materials. In each instance a main auger is supported on a wheeled frame for positioning of the discharge in alignment with the target area. A swing auger is provided at the inlet of the main auger for alignment with the source area. The hopper at the inlet of the swing auger however is restricted to positioning along an arced path which is difficult to align with the discharge hopper of a transport container. Often due to the narrow space between wheel sets within which a discharge hopper on a transport container is located, it is not possible to displace the swing auger is an arcing motion under the transport container parked beside the main auger without multiple steps of advancing and subsequent reversal of the vehicle position for proper alignment with the discharge hopper on the vehicle with the inlet hopper on the swing auger. The swing augers are thus difficult and time consuming to set up and may result in lost material being transferred due to its poor alignment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,428,956 by Scherman discloses an improved feed auger assembly for a conveyor including first and second auger sections which are pivotal relative to one another allowing the loading hopper to be placed through an infinite number of positions about the inlet end of the main auger; however the resulting assembly is awkwardly quite large and includes a large number of parts to control the pivoting movement of the two auger sections.
Canadian Patent 2,398,015 discloses a telescopic feed assembly using belts; however there are no means disclosed for applying a telescopic feed assembly using augers to take advantage of the benefits of augers over belt conveyors.
International application WO2010/048695 discloses a feed auger assembly which telescopically supported in relation to an implement such as a main auger to which the feed auger is coupled; however the auger is only operable within a small portion of the full range of motion of the feed auger assembly.
Canadian Patent 1,137,915 by Togstad and U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,131 disclose examples of extendible augers. Both augers are limited in their application and are not suited for use in a swing auger assembly of an agricultural conveyor for example.
Canadian Patent Application 2,723,498 by Sanders discloses an extendible feed auger assembly for an agricultural conveyor in which a first auger section discharges into a second auger section while being longitudinally slidably relative to the second auger section to vary an overall length of the feed auger assembly between a loading hopper and the main conveyor. The resulting feed auger assembly is relatively large and requires a large support structure for lifting and moving the feed auger assembly.